Thames floods

mainshiptom said:
Why don't they open the locks?
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I have often wondered that, they cannot open the gates both ends but the paddles or sluices in the gates could be opened each end to speed up the flow.

It's really bad for the boaters and house owners, some of my customers are affected, it's also slowing up my work plans as boat cannot be moved to be lifted out, if it gets any worse some of them will be on dry land at this rate.

I do hope our powers wil learn from this, though I doubt it very much as it just be another blip when really there concentrations are on accommodating the rest of the eu fixing them up with work and benefits and sending millions to other countries, I think the people in Somerset really need some help this time. I know there has been very little loss of life but surely they deserve some extra help this time. The politicians only come out with figures after the disasters happened and only when we complain. The weather for this coming week looks bad again.
 
Opening the sluices makes near enough no difference.

To give you an example , our gate sluices are 2ft x 2ft and we have four of them.

Our weir gates range in size from the smallest being 5ft x 13ft to 42ft x 12ft ( we have 20 of them ) , you wouldn't even notice the difference of the sluices being pulled or not.

Currently half a million litres a second flowing past.
 
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Generally each lock has a body of water which flows around it to handle excess water.

If you've ever visited The Compleat Angler in Marlow for Sunday lunch you will have seen a superb example of this. The weir by the hotel takes excess water from that stretch of the Thames and moves it around the lock just downstream from the hotel. The weir can handle far more water than the paddle gates on the lock could ever hope to handle. It would be like standing next to a fire engine at a fire holding a watering can.

In simple terms rivers need to be deep or broad enough downstream to handle the amount of water thrown at them from higher up. There needs to be no bottlenecks along the way and that means keeping rivers, streams and weirs free from debris or silt.

It is possible that weirs around the locks could be under specified. I'm not sure if this is the case.

One issue I suspect the environmental agency are struggling with is the fact that many flood defences are designed to handle storm surge. They do assume that the storm will pass, levels drop and the whole system re-sets for the next time it's needed. This winter the storms have simply kept on coming.

Henry :)
 
On the Nene and Ouse the top of the lock has "pointy doors" and the bottom a guillotine. In times of severe flood they chain back the top gates then raise the guillotine thus adding another 14ft wide weir channel to the main weir.
Mind you they are smaller rivers than the Thames.
 
I drove by Richmond upon Thames earlier, the speed of water is phenomenal. The water breaking either side of bow looks like the boats are powering along but they're tied up.
 
henryf said:
Generally each lock has a body of water which flows around it to handle excess water.

If you've ever visited The Compleat Angler in Marlow for Sunday lunch you will have seen a superb example of this. The weir by the hotel takes excess water from that stretch of the Thames and moves it around the lock just downstream from the hotel. The weir can handle far more water than the paddle gates on the lock could ever hope to handle. It would be like standing next to a fire engine at a fire holding a watering can.

In simple terms rivers need to be deep or broad enough downstream to handle the amount of water thrown at them from higher up. There needs to be no bottlenecks along the way and that means keeping rivers, streams and weirs free from debris or silt.

It is possible that weirs around the locks could be under specified. I'm not sure if this is the case.

One issue I suspect the environmental agency are struggling with is the fact that many flood defences are designed to handle storm surge. They do assume that the storm will pass, levels drop and the whole system re-sets for the next time it's needed. This winter the storms have simply kept on coming.

Henry :)
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Rivers, whether made navigable artificially or not, flood. It is natural.

I live in marlow and have been flooded 4 times this year (last time was 2002).

I knew it would flood when I bought it. The house is elevated and the water flows under it, shed, summerhouse greenhouse etc are under 3ft water.

You can't live in a flood plain and blame the EA when it floods. People on the somerset levels - the clue is in the name - need to accept the choices they made.

For what it's worth the EA do a good job of lowering the level on the Thames to increase capacity when there is excess water heading downstream. That is quite obviously impossible at the movement.
 
I totally agree with your comments. This country is wonderful when there's a crisis or disaster abroad & so much money is contributed the EU as we were (originally) one of the wealthier contributors but a disaster at home is met with a too late response & nothing much in the way of instant financial support.
People are losing their lively hoods here & the government are stating comments such as 'we will learn from this!
Well they haven't before & it's another example of how out of touch the politicians are with the people who pay their wages. They cannot see themselves as diluted royalty anymore, that was a long time ago.
 
Anders_P42 said:
I drove by Richmond upon Thames earlier, the speed of water is phenomenal. The water breaking either side of bow looks like the boats are powering along but they're tied up.
Click to expand...

As many know I live on the tidal Thames and the ebb speed is massive. Not seen it so fast. S shore path flooded at HW and its neaps so massive volume
 
Just been shopping in Wallingford on the Thames lake. Ground water pressure is now so high that water is bubbling up through the Tarmac and the drains are like fountains. Poor souls living on the bridge road are pumping out their houses onto the road and the spill is just sloshing around into the next house down.
There's no way that the plague of frogs which will follow will be half as bad.
 
England has faced the wettest January since 1766 and we are moving towards the wettest winter (December, January and February) in 250 years in England. Over the past week more than 600 homes have flooded, although some 180,000 properties have been protected from flooding and over 138,000 properties have been sent a free flood warning.

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/news/151872.aspx
 
Elessar said:
Rivers, whether made navigable artificially or not, flood. It is natural.

I live in marlow and have been flooded 4 times this year (last time was 2002).

I knew it would flood when I bought it. The house is elevated and the water flows under it, shed, summerhouse greenhouse etc are under 3ft water.

You can't live in a flood plain and blame the EA when it floods. People on the somerset levels - the clue is in the name - need to accept the choices they made.

For what it's worth the EA do a good job of lowering the level on the Thames to increase capacity when there is excess water heading downstream. That is quite obviously impossible at the movement.
Click to expand...

Many years ago I installed central heating in a number of wooden bungalows alongside the Thames in Staines.
Running alongside the A30 just before the bridge. These bungalows were raised up about 5 feet on brick piles.
Last time I was in the area I noticed they had been demolished & replaced with standard construction brick
rat-traps with standard footings. I understand that all of these homes are now flooded. How surprising.
Did no one ever consider why the old bungalows were up on piles ? Could it justbe that the area was liable to flood ?
 
mainshiptom said:
Why don't they open the locks?
Click to expand...

Cos it would not make much difference :)
Bf4xGq_IEAEVo3t.jpg:large

Eldridge Lock just below Tonbridge.
There are two major tributories below this joining the river at Yalding and a host of minor ones including two ,The Len and Loose Stream around Maidstone
No amount of tree trimming,reed removal,dredging or having a pop at the EA is going to sort this.
You could however stick Eric Pickles in there to slow the flow or absorb some of the sewage. :)
 
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